Who Is Accountable? To Whom? For What? How?

This article appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 15, Issue 2, Spring 1980. Accountability requires that information regarding the actions and decisions of the person or organization being held accountable must be transmitted; this information must be received and the necessary actions taken; and the information must be used to improve performance, correct deficiencies, or reward superior service. Government must continue to develop ways of increasing citizen involvement in the process of accountability. Mechanisms to achieve a strong base of accountability in Government have included the establishment of GAO, the establishment of Inspectors Generals in 13 Federal agencies, a special task force established by GAO to examine and assess susceptibility of agency programs to fraud and other illegal activities, an executive group to combat fraud and waste in Government, the Presidential Management Improvement Council, and the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. There are three types of accoutability. Fiscal accountability refers to appropriate spending of public funds in a lawful way with proper accounting. Process accountability requires the agencies to carry out the policies and programs in intended ways. Program accountability requires that programs or policies produce the results or changes intended. Because legislative language defining program objectives is often ambiguous, better ways are needed to define the objectives of programs. To increase Government accountability Government must continue to refine the systems of internal controls, continue to keep the public informed about Government activities, increase efforts to develop Federal evaluation policy and guidelines, encourage long-range planning of evaluation activities and interaction among evaluators, users of results and program beneficiaries, emphasize a problem solving approach to evaluation, encourage productivity and reward exceptional performance.